Meet the Fiery Fox

Meet the Fiery Fox

Here's a question for you:- Have you heard of Mozilla's Firefox? You have, haven't you? And there's probably a good chance that you might be using it to read this article too. After all, unless you've been living on the mountain like the proverbial hermit, then you would surely know that Firefox has been slowly but steadily chipping away at Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) share of the market, and with good reasons too. Up until IE8 showed up, Firefox has been the more streamlined and secure browser, while also allowing you to customize it via a huge list of add-ons, allowing for a more feature rich browsing experience.

If you are using Firefox and haven't yet gotten down to trying any add-ons, then hopefully this guide will help get acquainted. Sure it may seem daunting at first for the neophyte - but with a little bit of practice, you'll soon be zipping along like a pro and enjoying the experience to boot. For those of who haven't yet tried Firefox, this guide will surely help you open your horizon on what the competition offers.

Firstly though, let's discuss the concept of these add-ons. Firefox, on its own, does the job well of surfing the internet, but that's basically it. Most browsers are similar too, though with some extra features to make it easier and more functionally usable. Opera, for example, has Speed Dial, allowing you to quickly revisit your favorite websites. Google's Chrome has something similar as it brings up a landing page with a selection of sites that you frequently visit. Firefox, doesn't have this feature built-in, but if you are really interested to have something similar, you can just download and install an add-on and viola! Your Firefox browser will then have the same feature too. Firefox has always been a lean browser in terms of features and instead evolved to allow its users to customize their browsing experience and needs via these approved third-party add-on functions.

Installing an add-on is also easy and simple. There's no messy possible virus-filled executable to worry about. You can either get what you need via the Mozilla's website (https://addons.mozilla.org), or through an integrated function within the browser. Both methods are easily viable, though the website makes for easier navigation. If you know what you need however, the integrated function is more than adequate.

Ok, now that you're familiar with the concept and basics, let's take a look at some of the cooler add-ons over the following pages that the writers here at Hardware Zone swear by. Perhaps you might want to grab some of them to enhance your Firefox browsing experience too, so read on for our functionality add-on tips.